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From Power and Profit to Connection and Legacy
EO QUEENSLAND | MEMBER STORY
By John Abouslaibi | EO Queensland Member and Membership Chair
After more than 20 years in construction, John Abouslaibi has learnt that business success is not only about growth or profit. It is about connection – with customers, with his team, with his family and with himself.
Learning business the hard way
I started my first business, Superseal, after university. Like a lot of young entrepreneurs, I thought I knew more than I did. I asked for a pay rise, it did not happen, and I decided I could go out and do a better job myself.
What I quickly discovered was that university had not taught me how to run a business. Winning contracts was one thing. Finding the people to deliver the work, managing cash flow, meeting tax obligations and growing without losing control were completely different challenges.
Over the years I tried a lot of things. At one point I had seven businesses, including three outside construction.
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Those businesses are no longer here. That experience gave me clarity about where I create the most value and why it matters to focus on what you are genuinely good at.
Today, our group operates across specialist construction, concrete durability and waterproofing. Our concrete products business has entered a new chapter as Endurax Australia, drawing on more than two decades of experience in the Australian market. We work with concrete companies, distributors, developers and builders to improve the performance and life of concrete structures.
People sometimes describe it as a boring industry. I do not see it that way. The product may be grey powder going into grey powder, but the problems are complex, the relationships matter and the result needs to last.
Connection is the real superpower
If you ask what I am best at, my answer is simple: connecting.
Connection is my number one value. It starts with how I connect with myself – my values, behaviour and routines – and extends to my sons, my friends, my team and my customers.
In business, that means I do not lead with a brochure and a list of products.
ABOUT THE MEMBER
John Abouslaibi
John is an EO Queensland member and Membership Chair with more than 20 years in specialist construction. His story explores connection, culture, resilience and legacy.
I prefer to sit face-to-face with a customer or consultant and ask: What is the pain point on this project? What is getting in the way? How can we help?
That changes the sales conversation. It is no longer about pushing a product. It is about understanding the problem and helping the customer find the right outcome.
I still love sales, and I especially love helping close a deal. These days, however, I have a CEO, national leaders, business development managers and administrative staff in place. My role is less about being at the coalface every day and more about maintaining relationships, supporting the team and helping the right people come together.
Some people call me the hype man. I am happy with that. I genuinely enjoy seeing other people succeed, whether that is someone in my business or a fellow EO member.
“If you ask what I am best at, my answer is simple: connecting.”
Culture starts with clarity
One of the most satisfying things in business is seeing a strategy stick. We have held annual planning meetings every July for more than a decade. We set the theme, review the vision, mission and values, agree on budgets and then come back at the end of the year to see what worked.
None of that happens without the team. When you first start a business, it can be all about me, me, me. One of my biggest lessons has been to share the success. If you look after your people, give them clarity and allow them to grow with you, they will help the business thrive.
I think about culture through three ideas: clarity, cadence and consistency.
Clarity means people understand their role, their measures and what good performance looks like. Cadence comes from weekly team meetings, monthly management meetings, regular reviews and annual planning. Consistency is what turns those activities into a culture rather than a one-off exercise.
There also has to be room for fun. The guardrails matter, but so does enjoying the journey together.
Resilience is built in difficult years
Construction has delivered some hard lessons. Builders have gone into liquidation, developers have failed and, over two decades, our businesses have lost millions of dollars through non-payment.
Those moments force decisions you would rather not make. They can mean restructuring, changing direction and carrying pressure that other people do not always see.
The difficult years around 2017 and 2018 changed me. We kept our heads above water, rebuilt and became much more resilient. When the disruption of the following years arrived – rising labour costs, material shortages and prices changing almost overnight – I was better equipped to deal with it.
I do not pretend those challenges are easy now. The difference is that I can approach them with greater clarity and focus on the best available outcome instead of being consumed by the negative.
Turning learning into action
EO has helped me build routines and disciplines that work in business and in life. My morning now creates space for reflection, movement and focus before emails or social media take over. The exact routine matters less than the discipline of doing it consistently.
The same principle applies to learning. It is easy to attend an EO event or an executive education program, fill a notebook and then return to business as usual. The value comes from reviewing what you learnt and putting at least one thing into action.
An EO program at Bond University sharpened my thinking about governance, family and legacy. While I was there, we made an offer on a property in Ipswich. It later settled, and the project became something my sons and I could work on together. That mattered because the learning moved from theory into a real decision.
My two teenage sons have developed an interest in property, so we have used our family forum to explore it together. We look at sites, talk about location and zoning, and discuss why one opportunity works while another does not. It gives them a practical introduction to entrepreneurship and gives us another way to connect.
From profit to legacy
My definition of success has changed. When I began in business, it was power and profit. Profit still matters – every sustainable business needs it – but it is no longer my purpose or my why.
Time is now my biggest investment.
After turning 50, I completed an exercise through EO that measured life in weeks. Seeing the time laid out in front of me changed the way I think about the next chapter. It made me ask who I want to spend my time with, where I can create value and what kind of legacy I want to leave.
That is also why I serve on the EO Queensland board. People are sometimes surprised that the Membership Chair and the other board members are volunteers. For me, giving back is the point. I received so much from EO in my first five years that stepping up to contribute felt natural.
The return has been much bigger than business. EO has helped me become a better father, a better friend and a happier person. It has connected me with people locally and around the world who are willing to go beyond surface-level conversation and share what is really happening.
If there is one thing I hope people take from my story, it is this: to survive more than 20 years in business, you need resilience. But resilience is not something you build alone. It grows through the people around you, the disciplines you practise and your willingness to keep learning, connecting and taking action.